The Most Controversial President in U.S. History's Ambassador to Canada

"He said, 'What do you want to do?" I said, 'I think I see myself as your ambassador to Canada'. He had kind of a quizzical look ... and he says 'I like that, I like that idea'."

"I'm not only Dutch, I'm Frisian, which they call the most stubborn and blunt group -- and the Dutch pride themselves on being blunt. [That] is pretty valuable as a diplomat ..."

"I don't think [Canadian officials] leave the meeting saying 'What was he trying to tell us? Do you think Trump is really serious about tariffs'?"

Pete Hoekstra, U.S. Ambassador to Canada

 

"For the first time, it appears that the American ambassador's audience in everything he says publicly is the president."

"He is very likely making his boss happy, while he makes the rest of us uneasy."

"He's not from central casting."

Flavio Volpe, president, Automotive Parts Manufacturing Association, Canada

 

"He was just a brilliant guy and a can-do guy who just wanted to get things done."

"He is an original thinker. He's not conventional at all in so far as policies or in terms of ideology."

"He thought outside the box, which I really admired." 

Steve Emerson, Investigative Project on Terrorism 

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra speaks before taking part in a discussion on Canada-U.S. relations with Colin Robertson, a fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, during the Global Business Forum in Banff, Alberta on Sept. 25, 2025. Photo by Brent Calver/Postmedia /Brent Calver/Postmedia

 

The man has been labelled 'contentious' and 'pugnacious'; he certainly speaks his mind in a manner that is unreflective of the position he holds as a senior diplomat, though he doesn't come from the professional diplomatic corps, but rather, like his boss, from the business world. And he is, if anything, a true-red Republican Trump loyalist. Although he has some family ties with Canada, of relatives living in the country, and some memories in his dim background of visiting Canada, he appears to know little-to-nothing about the Canadian spirit.

 

In the sense, that is, that he can fathom broad offense taken by Canadians when the  American president he represents and champions insults the country by suggesting it become the  51st state. A 'term of endearment' was his reading of the suggestion, baffled that any offence could be taken. Surely not; more likely taking his cue of making light of the assault on Canadian sovereignty as though to deliberately minimize the spurning reaction of  a people whose dignity as a nation has been  made light of.

 

He is said to be a genial man in person, and no doubt he is. So is President Donald J. Trump when he wants to be, which is to say when everything goes his way. The supreme confidence instilled by holding the position of the most politically powerful man in the world would doubtless make many people immune to criticism, but not Trump and not, Mr. Hoekstra, on Trump's behalf. Criticize Mr. Trump and you have the supreme audacity to find fault with the great United States of America. 

 

"Dear Canada: beware. Hoekstra deserves to be treated as a hostile guest", proclaimed the  website of Common Dreams. The ambassador, 72 years of age, was born in Groningen, a northern city in the Netherlands. His family brought him to the United States when he was three years old through emigration. He earned an MBA in Michigan and entered the business world to become vice-president of marketing at an office furniture manufacturer before he turned to the political arena and election in 1992 to the House of Representatives, as a conservative Republican.

 

He opposed abortion rights, same-sex marriage, gay adoption, gun control and federal employee paid parental leave; the very essence of Democratic liberal values.  He chaired the House of Representatives intelligence committee from 2004-2007. As think tank pundit, author and diplomat he seems the perfect representative in Canada to reflect the current administration. His continued warning of "radical Islam", and that schools in America were used "to indoctrinate our children with Marxist ideology" mark him as controversial but fairly accurate. Since 9/11 he has devoted "almost all of my time" to intelligence, stating the "greatest threat" to the U.S. is the rise of "radical Jihad, radical Islamists".

 

At his Senate confirmation hearing last year he stated "I recognize Canada's long-standing friendship, our deep economic ties and our strong military alliance", as he spoke of Mr. Trump's priorities as "freer, fairer trade". Canadians, along with much of the world might take issue with that last statement. Canada in particular with the imposition of 35 percent tariffs on goods not covered by the CUSMA agreement. The tariffs on aluminum, steel, copper and lumber are particularly onerous and resented. 

 

"You do not come into America and start running political ads -- government-funded political ads -- and expect that there will be no consequences or reaction", he sternly admonished the Province of Ontario's trade representative over a series of well-publicized media spots highlighting former President Ronald Reagan's statements rejecting tariffs as completely unnecessary, as a gentle chide to President Trump's triumph of shocking tariffs and incentives to Canada-based manufacturers to leave Canada and set up manufacturing in the U.S. to unburden themselves of the weight of tariffs.  

"Chaos in the Netherlands. There are cars being burned. There are politicians that are being burned."

"With the influx of the Islamic community ... there are no-go zones in the Netherlands. All right?"

"There are no-go zones in France ... There are no-go zones in Britain as well, but they are tearing the Dutch apart politically." 

Pete Hoekstra, Muslim Migration into Europe: Eurabia Come True? 2015 panel discussion 

Somali-born, Dutch-American writer of note, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, herself a former politician and a bellwether of the kind of furtive jihad practised by the Muslim Brotherhood, would agree with every word of each caution issuing from the mouth of this unusual ambassador whose ideas of diplomacy are rather unconventional. Canada may yet learn much from this frank man of experience whose provocative conservative values counter much of the touchy-feely progressive-liberal standards of its own current government.

  

Pete Hoekstra, then Michigan Republican Party chairman, speaks at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Freeland, Mich., May 1, 2024. Photo by Paul Sancya/AP, File

 

"He's got to walk a tightrope. If he tries to inject too much rationality into the discussion, he gets zapped by Trump."

"I'm not going out of my way to defend him, but I feel a bit of sympathy for the predicament he's in."

"I'm sure when he showed up in Ottawa he didn't think he'd become the most controversial U.S. ambassador in history."

David Haglund, international relations professor, Queen's University